Hundreds of workers of Rupashi Garments blocked Dhaka-Narayanganj link road, demanding their due salaries.

Automation has been substantially coming about in garment factories, with modern machinery being used to make high-end garments and increase productivity in attempts to become more competitive globally.

A national committee set up to look into the occupational safety situation at industries across Bangladesh has so far inspected 5,200 factories, said Salman F Rahman, adviser to the prime minister on private industry and investment.

Bangladesh’s northern region has turned into a plastic recycling hub as many people in eight districts are now engaged in turning hazardous waste such as discarded PET bottles and disposable syringes back into resources for these products.

The Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) is scheduled to publish newspaper advertisements today, seeking applications from entrepreneurs to allot 500 plots lying vacant for years in its industrial estates.

Medicine exports to the developed countries are steadily growing riding on the attainment of regulatory approval from the US, European and some other countries helped by Bangladesh’s capacity to produce high-quality drugs at affordable prices.

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA) to reinstate GSP status in the American market for local merchandise.

ReportGarment exporters should focus on high-value apparel items to bolster the industry’s export growth, said Md Jashim Uddin, president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), yesterday

Rising  freight rates globally for demand recovery and supply disruptions as  well as an increase in transport costs locally owing to a hike in diesel  prices have made it difficult for small-scale cement manufacturers to  compete in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh will lose one of the most promising apparel export destinations if various Russian lenders are excluded from the SWIFT messaging system in response to the country’s invasion of Ukraine, entrepreneurs warned.

Although five years have passed since the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) made plans to establish an industrial park for automobile and light engineering industries in Jashore, the agency is yet to finalise the exact location for the project.

The construction of the country’s first industrial park for electrical and light engineering product manufacturers in Munshiganj is set to be complete in June.

Bangladesh’s garment industry might be brimming with export orders from international buyers thanks to the ongoing turnaround of the global apparel supply chain, but it is the larger units that are running in full swing while smaller ones have been pushed into corners.

Harvested rainwater currently meets 15 per cent to 60 per cent of the demand for non-drinkable water at textile and garment factories, helping the industry further its green movement by reducing dependence on groundwater, according to a study released yesterday.

Every industry, instead of just the garment sector, should be allowed to import fire safety equipment at reduced rates to safeguard workers’ rights and broaden Bangladesh’s image abroad, said entrepreneurs at a meeting yesterday.

Factory inspection teams have identified fire safety infractions at around 979 units in the past two months.

Industrial safety in the non-garment sector has been deteriorating day by day, said the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) yesterday.

Bangladesh  will manufacture its own brand of cars through state-run Pragoti  Industries which currently assembles vehicles of Japanese brand  Mitsubishi, said Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun  yesterday.

It has been a decade Akij Ceramics Ltd, a concern of Akij Group, has been operating in the ceramic industry in Bangladesh.

The country’s lone state-run distillery Carew & Company (Bangladesh) is planning to double alcohol production through an automation project and go for market expansion observing a recent hike in sales.